The scarves worn by the demonstrators are red and white, not orange. Their leader was killed by a bomb; not debilitated by poison. The outside power controlling their country is Syria, not Russia. The site of their gatherings is Martyrs Square in Beirut, not Independence Square in Kiev.

But day by day, Lebanon is starting to resemble Ukraine, where a swelling tide of popular protest forced the government to cancel rigged elections and let the political opposition take power. Could freedom be contagious?